Plus,
Georgian billionaire eyes prime minister’s office,
and Belgrade Roma kicked out of shanty town.
1. Poland resists EU proposal for lower carbon emissions
An EU initiative for deeper cuts in carbon emissions is
meeting resistance in Poland, the BBC reports.
Denmark and Great Britain are pushing a plan to require
a 25 percent reduction by 2020, instead of the original target
of 20 percent. EU environment ministers will meet 9 March
to discuss the proposal, but Poland's environment minister
Marcin Korolec, has asked his counterparts to reject it.
According to the World Coal Association, Poland is the 10th
largest consumer of coal in the world and the second largest
in the EU after Germany, with 90 percent of its electricity
and heat being generated from coal.
Poland, which has been at odds with the EU over the issue
due to the strain that such cuts would put on the country's
coal-dependent economy, blocked an attempt in June to change
the emissions targets. The Czech Republic and Romania, whose
production of electricity is also dependent on coal, back
Poland's position.
A spokesman from the UK Department of Energy and Climate
Change told the BBC that the cuts were important for "reducing
our dependence on imported energy, stimulating jobs and growth
in green sectors, and delivering health benefits from reduced
pollution." He said the current target “is simply
not cost effective.”
2. Romanian senator accused of Holocaust denial
A Romanian senator came under fire from human rights groups
after comments denying the Holocaust of Romanian Jews, Hotnews
reports. Appearing on a talk show on 5 March, Dan Sova, a
member of the opposition Social Democratic Party, denied
the involvement of Romanian soldiers in a World War II pogrom
in Iasi.
“Historical data show that 24 Romanians of Jewish
origin were killed in Iasi by German soldiers. No Romanian
soldiers took part in that, it is a historical fact,” Sova
said.
The Elie Wiesel National Institute for the Study of the
Holocaust in Romania said in a statement that Sova's declaration
amounted to denying the Holocaust of Romanian Jews and the
responsibility of the country’s wartime fascist government “for
the death of more than 250,000 Romanian and Ukrainian Jews.”
According to the Holocaust Encyclopedia, Romania had about
980,000 Jews in 1933. By 1950, the number was around 280,000.
Although Romania officially recognized the country's guilt
in the killings of Jews and Roma during World War II and
passed a law in 2002 that made Holocaust denial a crime,
it remains a delicate subject.
In 2003, then-President Ion Iliescu, also a Social Democrat,
provoked an outcry when he said the Holocaust had not happened
in his country. The government swiftly did an about-face,
establishing 9 October as Holocaust Remembrance Day and
setting up a commission to establish a historical record
of the Romanian Holocaust.
On 7 March, the Romani Criss Roma rights group and the Center
for Monitoring and Combating Anti-Semitism asked prosecutors
to charge Sova with Holocaust denial.
Sova, who was ousted as spokesman for the Social Democrats
after his remarks, expressed regret on his blog if his statements
were misunderstood as a denial of Romanian responsibility.
He said he had meant that “Romanians didn't want such
things to happen. Such events were determined by Nazi politics
and an unfortunate historical context.”
Victor Ponta, president of the Social Democrats, called
Sova's remark as “an enormous blunder” and distanced
the party from them. He said Sova will be sent on a trip
to Washington “to educate himself at the Holocaust
Museum.”
3. Billionaire in the running for Georgia prime minister
Georgia’s richest man has his eye on the prime minister’s
office, Forbes reports.
Bidzina Ivanishvili, whose $6 billion net worth amounts
to half of Georgia’s GDP, is shaping up as a rival
to President Mikheil Saakashvili.
“The country’s leadership [is] completely exhausted … and
has become the main obstacle for society and state development,” Ivanishvili
told a Tbilisi gathering in December when he launched the
Georgian Dream movement, which he hopes to become a force
in the country’s parliamentary elections this fall.
The billionaire also called for Saakashvili’s resignation
at that meeting, according to Radio Free Europe. Last fall,
Ivanishvili was stripped of his citizenship in Georgia, which
does not allow multiple citizenship, because he also held
passports from Russia and France. That move blocked him from
starting a political party, which is permitted only to citizens.
Since then, Ivanishvili and his wife have been working to
knock down those obstacles. His wife’s citizenship
was restored by a court, and Ivanishvili is giving up his
other citizenships.
Georgia’s unemployment rate stands at 16 percent,
and half of the country lives below the poverty line. Ivanishvili
continues to fund philanthropic efforts, such as free medical
care in his hometown of Chorvila. He further promises to
build a democracy and independent courts within a year, Forbes
reports.
“You have to jail one minister – two, max – to
show everyone that there will be no forgiveness,” Ivanishvili
told the magazine. “Show that there’s a political
will up there, and it will all line up quickly.”
4. Roma evicted from Belgrade shanty town
The eviction of nearly three-dozen Roma families from a
shanty town in Belgrade began on 7 March amid criticism that
it violates international human rights standards.
While some families will be guaranteed new housing in other
towns in Serbia, one refugee and minority rights watchdog
group said 18 of the 33 displaced families will not be provided
for, in violation of an international rights agreement, B92
reports.
The families who are not headed to the new housing are being
labeled “voluntary returnees” to Kosovo and are
scheduled for eviction on 16 March, in spite of the fact
that some families fear for their safety if they return to
Kosovo, Praxis legal counsel Danilo Curcic said.
The settlements where the other families will be moved were
created in response to forced evictions in 2009 in Belgrade
that left more than 200 Roma families homeless, according
to Amnesty International.
In 2009, the Center for Ecology and Sustainable Development
in Subotica and BankWatch, which monitors investments by
international, public financial institutions, created a documentary
series titled Bridging the Gap about Roma strife following
evictions from an encampment under Belgrade’s Gazela
Bridge.
5. New faces in Moscow politics could nurture the growth
of liberalism
In discussions of where Russia’s next liberal leaders
might come from, the usual suspects have been top party officials
like Grigory Yavlinsky, or prominent protest leaders like
Alexei Navalny or Sergei Udaltsov. But, as The New York Times
reports, the next generation may come from the unheralded
ranks of city governance.
That’s because more than 70 independent candidates
were elected to district councils throughout Moscow in municipal
elections last weekend, as part of a movement called Our
City.
“I think what we are doing and what we are achieving – this
small seizure of municipal councils – it is not a small
thing, especially under the dictatorship that now exists,” Mikhail
Velmakin, a founder of the Our City initiative, told The
Times.
Reporter Michael Schwirtz notes that the power of a district
council member – of whom there are 1,500 – pales
compared with the sway of bureaucrats and the city’s
appointed mayor, but these new, mostly young, local officials
have contact with voters and potentially the ability to mobilize
them.
“
You can fantasize about achieving our goals with tanks and
planes or through the principles of Gandhi,” Velmakin
told The Times. “There are many possibilities, but
there are a few tactical measures. We must speak to people
and tell them what is going on now.” tol.org
|